Brampton man pleads guilty for role in violent carjacking of senior

Warning: This article contains details that may be disturbing and triggering to readers.

Navjot Singh has pleaded guilty to being in possession of a stolen car the day his co-accused violently carjacked a senior in Innisfil.

Singh, 27, who was set to stand trial before a jury in April 2027 and has been behind bars for close to 500 days, was handed a conditional discharge at the request of the defence and Crown.

He accepted responsibility for his actions on May 16, 2022, when the court heard his co-accused, Arshdeep Gill, carjacked a then-77-year-old woman at knifepoint. Singh admitted he jumped in the car and the two made their way to Brampton.

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The men were arrested when the stolen Subaru was remotely disabled. The court heard Singh immediately told police what had happened and was remorseful as he cried to investigators.The Crown confirmed Arshdeep Gill has since fled the country after he failed to show up for start of his preliminary hearing in November. It is believed he returned to India after resolving separate charges in Hamilton last year.

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Justice Michelle Fuerst accepted the joint submission and Agreed Statement of Facts presented to the court by the Crown and defence that stated Gill was the “main player” in the violent carjacking when he ripped the woman’s keys away and shoved her to the ground outside a Tim Hortons along Innisfil Beach Road.

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Singh, the court heard had studied, tourism at Mohawk College and became a truck driver but his life unraveled because of an addiction to heroin that quickly led him to a life of crime.

Justice Fuerst, in sentencing the 27-year-old from Brampton, said Singh made the “unfortunate choice” to get in the stolen vehicle that day, but called the proposed sentence proportional due to triable issues and mitigating circumstances raised by the defence that included lost disclosure.

Singh was sentenced to six months less a day with probation for 18 months. He is not a Canadian citizen or permanent resident and remains in custody facing other charges. Singh is scheduled to return to a Milton courtroom next week. Those allegations have not been tested in court.